In recent months, General Motors has made it known that it has Tesla Motors in its sights and plans to take on the EV manufacturers with fresh electric vehicles from Cadillac. “If you want to compete head-to-head with Tesla, and we ultimately will, you want to do it with a Cadillac,” said GM CEO Dan Akerson last month in Washington, D.C.

“But I do think when the (Cadillac) ELR comes out late this year, early next — it’s certainly in the same postal code as Tesla, but now we’re going to move up. It’s not going to be a mass-produced car.”

When it comes being "in the same postal code", Akerson definitely wasn’t joking — at least when it comes to pricing for the Cadillac ELR. The base Model S with a 60 kWh battery (230-mile range) stats at $69,900 before a $7,500 federal tax credit is applied. GM just revealed today via Cadillac’s website that the ELR plug-in luxury coupe will start at a lofty $75,000 before the tax credit is applied.

GM is currently accepting reservations for the vehicle and it will officially launch early next year.

Official specs for the vehicle are hard to come by, but GM’s preliminary figures suggest that the vehicle will travel 35 miles on battery power alone and will have an overall driving range of 300+ miles. When it’s all-electric range is exhausted and the 1.4L gasoline engine/generator is operational, GM says that the vehicle will return the equivalent of 30 to 35 mpg (premium unleaded gasoline is required).

In addition, the ELR will have a top speed of 100 mph and the 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack can be recharged in 5 hours with a 240V connection.

Actually Brandon needs to watch his sources (or just read more carefully). The ELR is listed as having a top all-electric speed of "100+". Doesn't say what the final top speed is with the gas engine kicking in. If you know how the transmission in the Volt works, that could very well change the entire situation.